About Us
Alba Technologies began with a couple of sketches on a napkin at lunch between Ian Cash and Alex Hansen. The Founders sat down and sketched out a prototype for some sort of device that could accurately measure the movement of a human arm in real time and set out to make it as a passion project.
When the project was mentioned to a professor at Texas A&M, however, he saw the true potential of the prototype and offered enrollment in an entrepreneurship class, focused on taking prototypes and finding their proper place in the market. Up until this point the project had been a year of fun and games, but this was when the realization came that this technology was not only unprecedented but very much in demand in many fields. During this period we also narrowed down our target market to athletic instruction, specifically in golf.
With permission from the Mechanical Engineering Department the project was then set to become a senior design project. Students would work on the project for two semesters under the guidance of professors to deliver a prototype. The first semester, Spring of 2018, featured customer interviews to narrow down the market and better understand the problem. This was aided by our participation in the National Science Foundation program called iSite. At the same time a preliminary prototype was created to prove the concept of real time motion tracking. This prototype and the market research done to validate the idea was presented at the Texas A&M University Engineering Project Showcase.
During this same semester the team entered the Aggie Pitch Competition, which awarded cash prizes to teams with inspiring ideas and exceptional presentation. The team presented to a panel of judges consisting of industry leaders such as Graham Weston, co-founder of Rackspace Hosting, and Molly Cain, founder of Glass Heel. Alba took home 4th out of 58 teams.
